The town of Camden and the Camden-Wyoming Sewer & Water Authority are in the process of straightening out a Delmarva Power electric bill sent to the wrong address.

By Antonio Prado/Dover Post

An electric bill that the town of Camden has paid since April 2007 should have been billed to the Camden-Wyoming Sewer & Water Authority all along.

Town Manager Aaron Chaffinch researched the matter as part of Camden’s overhaul of its finances and found the discrepancy.

The change has been made and the CWSWA has received its first bill from Delmarva Power for that account, Chaffinch told Camden Town Council Monday night.

“The amount of money that was spent by the town during that period from April of 2007 was $4,601.10, of which a spreadsheet has gone over to the Sewer & Water Authority,” he said. “We’re hoping for reimbursement for that charge.”

Councilman Green asked who determined that this bill had been sent to the town of Camden erroneously.

Chaffinch said Councilman Larry L. Dougherty Sr. first found the discrepancy as he was examining street lighting and double checking who was responsible for paying those bills. Chaffinch then followed up with Delmarva and found verified the discrepancy with regard to CWSWA.

Camden-Wyoming Sewer & Water Authority Board of Directors Chairman Mark M. Dyer Sr. said he was glad the town had gotten the record straight. The bill in question was for a lift station in the development of Tamarac, he said. That lift station pumps sewer to another station until it eventually reaches the Kent County Regional Wastewater Treatment Facility in Frederica.

“We have a lot of electric accounts for all these pump stations and we really wouldn’t notice one electric bill,” Dyer said. “It’s just a minor bill that was being billed incorrectly. It should have been us, yes. It was just an oversight.”

Dyer said the development of Tamarac included sewer service built to Camden-Wyoming Sewer &Water specifications and then turned over to the authority.

“I have no idea how the bill would have been billed to Camden,” he added.

During the Camden Town Council meeting, Councilman Kevin R. Casquarelli asked if any other discrepancies were forthcoming with regard to electric bills.

Chaffinch and Dougherty said they were still looking into other accounts but still had a little more work to do.

Namely, Dougherty said he wanted to find out if Camden, Kent County or the state of Delaware were responsible for paying the bills of about 10 streetlights in town.

In addition, a flat fee for sirens billed to the town by Delmarva Power would no longer be billed to Camden, Chaffinch said. The sirens no longer even worked. However, Chaffinch doubted that the town would be reimbursed for that money.